


Love Trap

by Satine86



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Humor, Pre-Relationship, Trapped In Elevator, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-18 03:25:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14203998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Satine86/pseuds/Satine86
Summary: Was Liam Kosta predisposed to disliking shirts? Or was she just unlucky (or lucky) enough to always find him without one?





	Love Trap

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to jokingly say this has been sitting in my WIP folder for a year... then I realized that's probably true.

If she didn’t look, it wouldn’t be a problem. 

Except it was a major problem, and no amount of cajoling or rationalizing would change that fact. 

They had been trapped for nearly three hours, the unfortunately small elevator on the Nexus had jolted to a full stop, sending them both flying against the walls with no warning. It seemed no matter what maintenance tried, nothing could get it going again. Even SAM hadn’t been able to figure out the source of the malfunction. In a fit of ire Sara had told SAM to keep quiet and leave her alone. She wasn’t at all surprised to find SAM had obeyed her. 

If that wasn’t bad enough, around the two hour mark it seemed the environmental controls had gone out as well, and now it was _hot_.

God, it was so fucking hot. Like the ass end of Elaaden in the middle of summer. First it had gotten stuffy, just a little uncomfortable, like piling into the Nomad after a scuffle with kett in the sun. Except there was no reprieve, no excess armor to remove or environmentals to fiddle with until cool air blasted across your grimy face.

Only mugginess and discomfort and the fact that Liam was right next to her, radiating even more heat as the smell of their sweat started to grow stronger and mingle. Really, she should find that unpleasant. Of course she found his personal blend of pheromones nice. Of course she had to be tortured that way. 

Next came the real torture though, because the bastard had removed his damn shirt in an attempt to get cool. Honestly, did he have an aversion to them? Was Liam Kosta simply predisposed to disliking shirts? Or was she just unlucky (or lucky) enough to always find him without one? 

She wasn’t certain anymore. Either way it was annoying.

Sara was pulled from her thoughts as she became dimly aware of Liam stretching out next to her, long legs straightening until the soles of his boots nearly touched the opposite wall. 

“Imagine, we come all this way only to die in a lift.” 

“We’re not dying in here, Kosta.” 

“You say that now, but I’ve seen plenty of thrillers that start off just this way.”

That earned a heavy sigh from Sara. “We’re not living in a vid, Liam.” 

“I don’t know, there’s already a low budget vid about the Pathfinder going around. Ryder: saving the universe and punching kett in the face.” He swung out in slow-motion, like it really were a vid, and laughed. That carefree, infectious laugh that she always found more than a little distracting. 

“You can’t be serious.” She turned toward him, only to realize he was still shirtless and sweaty and laughing, and immediately regretted everything. 

“It’s real, want me to get a copy?” he asked, looking at her with bright eyes. Obviously he was thoroughly amused by the whole thing. She was glad someone was, at least.

“I thought we were dying in here?” She arched an eyebrow at him, and crossed her arms. 

“Yeah, well, gotta have some hope. Besides, the more I think about it, the more I realize something.”

Against her better judgement, Sara found herself playing along. “Oh, and what’s that?”

“If anyone has a shot of getting us out of here alive, it’s you, Pathfinder.” Liam nodded, the corner of his mouth quirking gently upward. “Go on then, find the path out.” 

“You suck and so do your pathfinder jokes.” She laughed despite herself, none too gently nudging his leg with the toe of her boot.

“Not true.” Liam shook his head. “We all know I am your favorite.”

Sara snorted, hoping to play it off. Liam didn’t need to know he was indeed her favorite, nor did he need to know about her ever growing, annoyingly persistent crush. No one needed to know about that. Not even SAM.

“Mmm,” she hummed, pretending to think it over. “No, pretty sure my favorite is Drack.” 

“You just like the getup. Bet if I talked to his bone guy I would once again reign supreme.” 

“He does not have a ‘bone guy’.” Then again he was krogan, if any species had ‘bone guys’ it was probably the krogan. 

“Nah, I’m pretty sure he does.” 

“If you’re going to believe everything Drack tells you in the nomad, then I have a bridge on Sur'Kesh to sell you.”

“One, ha ha.” He laughed mockingly. “Two, that’s not the correct saying.”

“You still got it.” 

“Whatever.” He gently shoved her shoulder, and Sara dramatically tipped over sideways with a giggle. 

“So how long do you think we’ll be trapped in here?” she asked once she collected herself. 

“Dunno, how long has it been now?”

Sara brought up her omni-tool and made a whining noise. “Closing in on four hours. At this rate we’ll be lucky if the kett haven’t taken over by the time we get out.” 

“Well, that’s shit. But let’s look on the bright side, we could be stuck here with Drack and his getup.” 

“What?” Sara tried to look affronted, hand on her chest. “I would love to be trapped with my favorite right now.” 

“Then you’d be packed in here like a sardine, there’s hardly enough room as it is.” To illustrate his point Liam leaned in closer to her, crowding her against the wall. Had it been any other time, or any other person, she might’ve decked them for it. In fact she was sure had punched Scott for less in the past. 

At that moment though, she could only sit in a daze, struggling to breathe as his face drew closer. Time seemed to slow down, and Sara became hyper aware of everything Liam: the way his own breath hitched, how he felt through the fabric of her clothes, how his eyes seemed to darken.

Most importantly she was aware of how it looked like he was going to kiss her.

The air around them seemed charged, like it was crackling with energy. As if someone were going to set off a biotic charge. Sara held her breath and waited and then… the elevator lurched and started moving again, a blast of cool air shooting out from the environmentals. 

Liam’s eyes were wide as he sat back, putting as much space between them as he could. In a matter of seconds they were both on their feet, Liam had his shirt on, and Sara wasn’t sure how to feel. 

The elevator coasted to a gentle stop, the doors sliding open to reveal several people from the maintenance crew and a worried looking Cora. 

“Are you both all right?” she asked, looking them over with concern. 

“Yeah, fine,” Liam mumbled, head down as he brushed past Sara. 

Sara nodded her assent, eyes locked on Liam’s quickly retreating back. She only met Cora’s gaze once he was out of sight. 

“Couldn’t have waited five more minutes?” Sara tossed up her hands, and brushed past a highly confused Cora. 

She needed a cold shower.


End file.
